UNFCC: Validation Workshop for the Third National Communication held

GIS – 30 September 2016: A Validation Workshop for the Third National Communication (TNC) for the Republic of Mauritius under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), an initiative of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, and Disaster and Beach Management, was held yesterday at Ravenala Attitude Hotel, Balaclava.

On this occasion, the Minister of Civil Service and Administrative Reforms and Minister Environment and Sustainable Development, and Disaster and Beach Management, Mr Alain Wong, stated that Mauritius always attaches great significance to fulfillment of its international commitments and to contribute towards reaching global solutions especially, in the case of climate change. Besides meeting Party obligations to the UNFCCC, National Communication is a very useful instrument in shaping sound decision making on policies and national strategies regarding climate change, he said.

According to Mr Wong, the process in the preparation of the TNC reports demonstrates our commitment to lead in the fight to confront climate change for our children and generations to come. The TNC is innovative in the sense that it focused on capacity building for sustainability in the reporting process but we still have a long way to go in terms of methodology commensurate to our local context, he added.

The climate change indicators for Mauritius are alarming too, warned the Minister. The impacts are already noticeable and are likely to worsen and the threatening impacts of climate change are already being felt with an accelerated sea level rise, accentuated beach erosion, increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as floods and water scarcity periods, he underlined.

Water supply by 2030, stressed Mr Wong, may not be sufficient to satisfy projected demand, agricultural production may decline by as much as 30% and several beaches, that are so important for our tourism industry may slowly disappear. In this perspective, the Government has placed both mitigation and adaptation to climate change high on its agenda, he highlighted, adding that it has adopted a proactive approach to address the adverse impacts of climate change and enhance the resilience of the population.

It is recalled that this TNC report will be submitted to the UNFCCC ahead of the forthcoming COP 22 session to be held in Morocco during the first fortnight of November 2016.